It began as the GODFATHER OF MATH, evolved into the GOODFATHER OF MATH. Now this. Go figure...

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes = G. CARLIN...Stain glass, engraved glass, frosted glass
–give me plain glass = JOHN FOWLES ... Music is the mathematics of the gods=PYTHAGORAS ... Nothing is more fluid than language = R. L. SWIHART
I cannot live without the oxygen of laughter = DAWN POWELL ... !!! ... But laughter cannot survive without the hydrogen of gravitas = PAUL OLIVERIO
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, January 31, 2015

What Kind Of Poem Am I?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

i blinked once
in the middle of june

i jumped ship
with romeo's tune

young, guitar days
too many nights

the american in me
scaled comedy heights

There is no silent  in  Steve Forbert
He was  Alive on Arrival  in 1978
and he is alive and well
in  2015
listen to me
in  black italian shoes

there's  no use
running from the blues

sometimes it shows
in smoky windows

what kind of poem am I
does any of it fit

facing the sun 
as little stevie orbit



________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
WHAT KIND OF POEM AM I  is not copyrighted by LCSoL.

It is an example of  plaYgarism: I just played with Forbert song titles.

If you do the footnote clicky thing, you will hear Steve Forbert
playing  performing another song.

A page with actual Steve Forbert lyrics is  here. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Friday, January 30, 2015

Benjamin Franklin, Franz Kafka & Me

________________________________________________________________________________________________













********************************************
The early bird gets the worm 
but if that worm slept in, he 
might still be alive today.
                                       -Paul Oliverio
********************************************



This is another example of a  deferential equation  (not to be confused with a differential equation)
wherein I equate little old me with some known personage of cultural stature.

Call it kowtowing in reverse.

If I were Benjamin Franklin, I would be able to say
I inspired Franz Kafka to write a novel.

But I am not  Benjamin Franklin.

I am a 65 year-old teenager whose alleged writings
have been strongly influenced by  Franz Kafka.
Forgive me Ben: I have not read ye at all.

With that last sentence, I have stated my first lie on this page.

Franklin's essay THE SAVAGE INDIAN is an Oliverio favorite
because it portrays 18th Century Native Americans
as the exact opposite of savage.

Surely, I digress.

Franz Kafka never set foot on American soil
but  Amerika,  published in 1927, is about
a young German man who visits
the United States of America.

Despite the word not having existed
at the time of publication, the man
has no shortage of "Kafka-esque"
adventures and misadventures
while he is there.


Having read Mr. Franklin's Autobiography
inspired Kafka to write this novel. 

The cover of this  New Directions Paperback
was designed by Mrs. CarPeo's best friend
(Mr. CarPeo notwithstanding). 


That is no lie and neither is this: an excerpt of Amerika can be read by clicking  here.


 _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
Another example of a deferential equation–despite the difference
in auction house pricing– appears  there.

The next Kafka page, one tenth the length of this one, is  here. 


The next Benjamin Franklin page is  an "almanack."
 _______________________________________________________________________________________________


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Mighty Mouth Meets Mightier Mouth

________________________________________________________________________________________________


If you stop telling lies about me, 
I will stop telling the truth about you.
Adlai Stevenson
Presidential Candidate
(1952 + 1956) 




If you need to see a picture  
of Richard Nixon, 
click  here, 












He knew all about war 
and nothing about peace.
Churchill in New York
(1900)






If you need to see a picture 
of  Mark Twain... 
   
________________________________________________________________________________________________


A Hidden Doo-Wop Treasure From Another Late Great Brit

________________________________________________________________________________________________


The image is from  here.

I would die before I divorce ya
I'd take a thousand thumps for my love
'Cause you kissed a lucky horseshoe
Stuck it in my boxing glove

Does anyone who will listen up
To our victories and dumb defeats
Knows they all take you to the cleaners
If you come between the cheats

Amy Winehouse
Between the Cheats



________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
Another distinguished common denominator Amy Winehouse
shares with Christopher Hitchens can be found  there.

Click  here  for the next Amy Winehouse page. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Upon Contemplating Christopher Hitchins

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Tautology lurks
with/without perks
more like: per chance
do the  if-then  dance
Simple two-step or
four, six, or three
test your mental
choreography
Aim for descartes or
just fire a gun
begin with premise
end with conclusion
Conjoin concluded
thought with more thought
perfect partners
are perfectly taught
To be/ to not be
doo-wop do go
with yin-yang dip
step fast or step slow
If dogs can run free
then why should i–
enslaved by thought–
reach for the sky
Tautology lurks
with/without perks
more like: per chance
do the  if-then  dance


________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
UPON CONTEMPLATING CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.

The springboard for this poem was  Hitchens'  use of the phrase Tautology lurks.

It appears on p.21 of the pictured edition of his book
Letters to a Young Contrarian.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Stanley On The Subway: Somewhere Between 1945 and 1950

________________________________________________________________________________________________


photographed by  Stanley Kubrick


do you get a sense of SPACE
        do you sense an ODYSSEY
                is this verse some
                        kind of who trick


or pick your
                 own rhyme
                                for  Kubrick






________________________________________________________________________________________________


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Blizzard Baseball All-Star Team

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 In deference to the allegedly hellacious blizzard that is plaguing the Northeast,
Major League Baseball writer, Matt Monagan,  has put together

...The MLB ALL-BLIZZARD Team...


Cool  Papa Bell           &              Coco  Crisp      


 Ski  Melillo          &      John  Shovlin

J. T.  Snow      &      Devon  White

 Chili Davis      &     David  Freese 
                                                                                                       (pronounced Freeze)

The image is from  here.

The rest of the ALL-BLIZZARD  team, position by position, is  there.

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Polly PorsaLina Postcard: Love For Sale

________________________________________________________________________________________________


© Oliverio
Hello Dolly


Pink in dress
Pink in bonnet
Polly Porsalina
This is your sonnet

Pink of cheek
Blue of eye
She seems to
Wonder why

Life is nothing
But a drag
Thus she wears
A price tag

Life is fraught
She can be bought





 


________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
POLLY PORSALINA POSTCARD: LOVE FOR SALE  is the copyrighted property of LCSoL. 

Written by  Cole Porter,  the soundtrack is the italic subtitle. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________


But The Best Part Of This Beachy Morning...

________________________________________________________________________________________________


© Oliverio
The Waving Man & The Laughing Girl

Photoverio #56 is  here. 




Was  when I got to swim 
in the pool just beyond 
the waving man.


The water temperature 
there was 82 degrees.





________________________________________________________________________________________________


Photoverio © (# 55): A Very Beachy Morning

________________________________________________________________________________________________


© Oliverio

Sunrise NOT Sunset





















© Oliverio

Subtract NOT...and What You Get 





















© Oliverio

Is the Theme Song for this Page:





















© Oliverio

Lee Morgan's Sunrise Sunset






















Photoverio © (#55) continues  here.

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Monday, January 26, 2015

Thankfully, This Is Not Our National Anthem

________________________________________________________________________________________________


aMErica aMErica
God shed all grace on ME
You may call it vanity
But I can clearly see

aMiracle aMiracle
Is exactly what I am
Give me greenback dollars
Keep your green eggs and ham

.................................
.........................
.................


________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
Despite what some people think, a much longer (and more self-centered) version
of this "anthem" was originally copyrighted by Paul Oliverio in 1997.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


About Mex Antoine's Ancestor (Comic Relief #121)

________________________________________________________________________________________________


In the history of that thing called television,
I sincerely doubt that there ever was
a more influential weatherman
than  Tex Antoine.

Unfortunately,
whenever an artist
works in a new medium,
there will always be controversy.
The  weatherman's  "Second Home" was
                     —the  English Grill  in Rockefeller Center—                         where Tex had a favorite alchemist.

The alchemist, a/k/a mixologist, combined
six special chemical compounds
and called it a TEX HEX

When this "bartender" went home
at the end of  his work day,
all I said to him was
Hello, Daddy.
*

Three years after I could no longer say Hello Daddy,
Tex Antoine was no longer at NBC.
And then, he was no longer
on television.

I may be wrong
but I believe that Tex Antoine
was one public apology away from having
every meteorologist on TV today
call him Godfather.
 


Happy Hyperlinking
and Other Searchitudes!
 


________________________________________________________________________________________________


Sunday, January 25, 2015

Slowing Down A Slogan

________________________________________________________________________________________________


This is an enhanced image of a skyline scene
from  Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
Dr. Jonathon Katz

The good doctor who shared
squigglevision
with  patients,
friends, family
and other dubiosities

However, the rooftop Nike Billboard is only on screen for a nano-second.

The primary patient for this episode of Dr. Katz is  Louis C.K.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Saturday, January 24, 2015

This Just In: Cartesian Snow And Then Some

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Eight Inches Screened

(All photos: © WNBCarPeo  ©Mrs. Oliverio)  

































Co-ordinated precipitation,

struck one half the nation 

with powdeed fluffitation








Reporting for WNBC
Fourth-generation
meteorologist
Mex Antoine
also said:

This wonderful white powder
is not the fault of global warming
and don't Blame it on Rio...

Blame it on 

the famous Beatles'

White Album




________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
The title refers to the Cartesian Plane, from whence
the mysteries of  and originate.

All that is binary–or yin/yang–is a reflection
of  Rene Descartes' greatest accomplishment.

The 17th Century genius is known for many things
but the co-ordinate geometry of the Cartesian Plane
is his greatest creation.

And I have an unheralded
21st Century genius
at my disposal:


________________________________________________________________________________________________


Photoverio © (#54): BUT The Bride...

________________________________________________________________________________________________


© Oliverio
LB SC Gift Shop 
 

The wedding for one
was no fun

When the groom
left the room

But
The bride–
Imbued with pride–

Is a mother of Matell
Who knows no hell

Not a gun moll
Just an antique doll



________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
BUT THE BRIDE is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.

The next  Photoverio is  here.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Photoverio © (#53): Best Read Aloud

________________________________________________________________________________________________


© Oliverio
Squeeze  The Who

In the land of O's
Black Dot is
the nose

Everyone needs hope
This face needs
some soap

Squeezed 1,000 times
One thousand
old rhymes

Blender plinth face-guard
Black decker
built hard

See concentric O's
Formica
glows

See it many ways
And have a
nice daze




________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
BEST READ ALOUD is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.

The next Photoverio is  here.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Thursday, January 22, 2015

No Problem, Said The Nonagenarian

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Think percentages, young man
Think percentages, young lady

 said the ninety year-old man
  
The aging process
means a lot less to me than than to you.

For somebody half my age, it means twice as much.

What the hell is one more day, when I am ninety?
That means just one more day added to more than 
thirty thousand days that were lived before it.

Consider the new born baby:
The next day, it has aged one hundred percent.

I really really feel sorry for the new-born!
 
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
NO PROBLEM, SAID THE NONAGENARIAN   is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Three Graces minus One

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Geezer Planet is only active on Facebook but if you see nothing but humor
in this image, have your doctor (or bartender) modify your medication.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Only Thing I Remember Is Forgetting (Comic Relief #114)

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Geezer Planet is only active on Facebook

________________________________________________________________________________________________



The Declaration Of Monie Love

________________________________________________________________________________________________

There comes a time
When you're at
The end of your tether

Monie Love
It's a Shame





















________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
The highlights above and below the image are two distinct hyperlinks.

The man  who is responsible for only complete proof
of the Pythagorean Theorem put to rap music
is obligated to connect you to Ms. Love's 
geometric title,  Monie in Middle. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Three Hallmarks Proving There Is Not Intelligence On This Planet

________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.
Johnny Ace  is not in the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame.


2.
Pete Rose,  who had more base hits than anyone who ever played the game,
is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.


3.
Barry Bonds,  who hit more home runs than anyone who ever played the game,
is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose


Barry Bonds


















________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
The middle photograph is  Johnny Ace.

There are six distinct hyperlinks on this page. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Houston Christmas, 1954

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I looked at the face of the clock on the wall.

And it doesn't tell me nothing at all.

That face of the clock just stares at me.
It knows I'm lonely and always will be.


What better way to spend a holiday
than to see the Ace of Aces

Who luckier than Texan
Rhythm & Blues teenage faces

The show began
with a bang

Johnny Ace
But that was before
any song was sang

He was playing Russian Roulette

Somewhere backstage
he lost a bet

Years later
with amazing Grace

Paul Simon gave heed
to The Late Great Johnny Ace




_______________________________________________________________________________________________


Memories Are Made Of These

________________________________________________________________________________________________

1981
The first time I ever set foot in what
I would later learn to be South-Central Los Angeles,
I was thirty feet from a stage with a singer named Mick Jagger.

The bandstand was the equivalent of the end zone at the Coliseum
but there were no seats on the football field.

There was just a crowd of sardined fans of the band.

Not being what anyone would call "tall," unfortunately,
I saw more of swaying shoulders than  Rolling Stones.

  

























1990
On the morning of Christmas Day, Yearbook advisor Mr. Oliverio drove to school.
I parked my car across the street from Jefferson High School, exchanging a lot
of Christmas greetings and just having a jolly old good time.

However, I was in need of exercise that day so, instead of driving home to Burbank,
I drove to the Hollywood Hills and climbed all the way up to the HOLLYWOOD sign.


2001
It was a Queen Mary week end. It was an extraordinary week end with a couple
who drove up from San Diego and a guest visiting from New York. Post 9/11,
it would be possible to determine the exact date: the following day and Aerobus
crashed after take-off from JFK airport.


2002
Cute as a button and recently relocated from Mexico to Los Angeles,
Christina is modeling an LP by a singer she referred to as Bobby Dilly.


2004
Johnny Ray Scott was the bandleader in the last of the Oliverio Donut Concerts.
He is standing on the same stage that many years before had been graced
by the likes of Nat King Cole and Billy Holiday.

Their presence at Jefferson High School inspired me to raise funds to stage
a series of concerts. In total, I raised $10,000 in the course of six years.
Each of those years ended with a concert.

One month after this concert, I was a "retired Math teacher" but those three words–
when applied to me–are an oxymoron.   

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello Dolly!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anyone who lists the five greatest living female singer/songwriters
and excludes the name  Dolly Parton...is mistaken.

However, to appreciate Dolly's songwriting talents,
there are two obvious distractions





















Therefore, I submit Exhibit #1 to make the case
for the Cole Porter-esque brilliance of Miss Dolly:

COAT OF MANY COLORS
Back through the years
I go wonderin' once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use

There were rags of many colors
Every piece was small
And I didn't have a coat
And it was way down in the fog
Momma sewed the rags together
Sewin' every piece with love
She made my coat of many colors
That I was so proud of

As she sewed, she told a story
From the bible, she had read
About a coat of many colors
Joseph wore and then she said
Perhaps this coat will bring you
Good luck and happiness

And I just couldn't wait to wear it
And momma blessed it with a kiss

My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly

Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me
Dolly Parton ©
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Quintana's Poem & Her Mother & Her Mother's Poem

________________________________________________________________________________________________



Quintana Roo Dunne

Joan Didion

I continue opening boxes.
I find more faded and cracked photographs
than I ever again want to see.

I find many engraved invitations to the weddings
of people who are no longer married.

I find many mass cards from the funerals of people
whose faces I no longer remember.

In theory these mementos serve to bring back the moment.
In fact they serve only to make clear how inadequately
 I appreciated the moment when it was here.

How inadequately I appreciated the moment when it was here
is something else I could never afford to see.

The source
The next Joan Didion page is  here.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

....................Attention: Dog-Loving Fans of Hollywood..................... .....................Did Patrick McDonnell Steal This Name?.......................

________________________________________________________________________________________________


According to Amazon.com,  Stephen M. Silverman has authored  seven books.
This is one of them:

Published by ABRAMS BOOKS
(2001)


According to imdb.com (internet movie data base), he has nine  film credits.

He is also a very nice man.

However, the last statement cannot accurately be hyperlinked:
I was given that information by the designer of the book,
the woman presently known as "Mrs. CarPeo."

If all she had to say about the book was that
the author was a nice man, this page would not exist.

But surely, I will paraphrase:

MOVIE MUTTS was not a best seller.

It was a good seller but the cover above
was not the original design.
This is:

It is mistakenly believed that a book designer
does nothing more than design the cover.

This book, like so many other Abrams books,
contains many photographs.

To co-ordinate the ratio and perspective
of text-to-photo requires endless hours

After forty hours of book designing,
MOVIE MUTTS was approved by the author.
But then the marketing department declared:

It needs a dog on the cover.

Carol liked Stephen Silverman but she loved COCO the Collie.
As a result, the additional twenty hours brought about by
the revised cover proved to be a labor of love.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Companion Pieces of Antonio Salviati

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865)








Both Presidential portraits
were painted by  Antonio Salviati.

The mosaic portraits were officially
donated to the United States after
each President was assassinated.

Congress voted to accept
the Lincoln  gift in 1866;
the Garfield  gift was
accepted in 1884.

Both portraits are on view
in the United States Capitol
in Washington D.C.
.
.

James A Garfield
(1831-1881)

.
.
.
.
.

The artist was also an attorney
and a businessman.

Mr. Salviati "was largely
responsible for the rebirth
of Venetian glasswork
during the late 1800s."

There is nothing I can say
about Abraham Lincoln
that hasn't been
said before.

That is not true about
James A. Garfield,
especially if you
believe he was
named after
a cat.

Whereas every President of the United States of America–
including George Bush–knew what comes after abc...


                    The 20th President is the only one who knew
                    what to do when those three letters were applied
                    to a right triangle.


James A. Garfield  inspired the only complete proof
of the Pythagorean Theorem set to  Rap Music.
 
 
Antonio Salviati
(1806-1890)
Portrait of the Artist
I should know of what I speak because
I done be the Math Rapper.

The funkitudinal truth of that statement
was performed en toto right  here.

The portraits of fourteen Presidents
are featured in Capitol Building.


                     The youngest of those Presidents
                     was James A. Garfield who spent
                     most of his presidency  with a
                     fatal bullet in his chest.


     I am eternally grateful to Mr. Salviati
for making this proximity of the
under-appreciated Garfield
with legendary Lincoln.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

X + Y

________________________________________________________________________________________________

   X and were Peetniking
   on Martin Luther King Day
   never did they lack
   for something to say. 

   X  said
 "My friend donated
   two fingers to charity."
   Y  almost spilled
   his black coffee.

   He boasted so loud
   with bravado grand:
 "My mother donated
   her left hand!"

   X  said 
 "You sound proud
   of the fact."

   Y  said
 "It is just my
  false bravado tact.

"I pride in her
  every breath.
  It is the only way
  to deal with her death."


  Then Ed walked
  in the door.
  Applause crossed
  the floor

  From all
  the Peetniks there.
  Table #1 
  offered him a chair.

  None of us had seen
  the limping man
  since from the shoppe
  he had been canned.

  A hero's return
  is always nice
  but only Y
  applauded twice:


  Once–
  just like all the others
  once again–
  for the fallen mothers.


________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Footnote
 X + Y  is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.
________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Drifters @ Cal State Long Beach

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Art LinkLater called me a "WINNER!"

If you don't believe me, just read the first comment on the  previous  page.



© Oliverio
With the New Nyk





Kids Say The Darndest Things

Their words can be silly or clever
Or they can provide
an uplifter

Art asked this 65-yr-old kid:

Name a song that 
Was sung by 
A Drifter

 
I answered by showing what you see
From the campus of  CSULB
The pyramid tree grows

UP ON THE ROOF




Art  said:
You can hyper link now
or you can link later
________________________________________________________________________________________________